Good Bluetooth USB Dongle on a computer with no built in Bluetooth?

Hi Everyone
What is a good external USB dongle to use to link up my new Apple bluetooth keyboard and magic mouse on my Mac Pro without built in Bluetooth?
Thanks

Probably most any usb bluetooth dongle will work. I use a IOGear GBU421 (got it on sale at Fry's for about $9) but I believe the DLink DBT-120 is another populer one. Mine is plugged into the back of my 27" LED so it's only a foot or two away from my magic mouse and trackpad.
Note, there are a few "gotchas" with these things.
1. They are usb devices so if you sleep the machine the dongle is off too. So you can't, for example, click a bluetooth mouse to wake your machine. I wake my machine by clicking a key on my wired keyboard.
2. They don't always pair right away after waking up from sleep (at least mine doesn't). You may have to flip the switch on the mouse to get your machine to notice it. There is rarely a problem with the BT coming up after a (re)boot.
3. Depending on the model of mac pro, there may be some concern on whether plugging in a BT dongle disables the internal BT. On late 2010 Mac Pro's like I have it does. On earlier models I am not so sure and the internal card may have to be disconnected. Since you don't have internal you don't have to worry about this. I'm just mentioning this for others that may read this.
I guess I should answer the question on why one would stick a dongle onto a mac pro that has internal BT. Mainly because for some, the BT on the mac pro s**ks! IMO sticking an antenna inside and near the back of what amounts to a Faraday cage is not a bright idea. End result, skipping mice (google it and see this thread and there could be other dongle suggestions in that thread as well), poor reception, and a lot of frustration. Results vary depending on how far the mac pro is from the mouse, it's position, and what's between the back of the machine and the mouse.
4. Even if you use a BT mouse (with or without a dongle) I recommend always having a wired mouse as a backup (keboard too if you are using a BT keyboard).
5. If you are having pairing problems, the "standard" first attempt to fix is to do a smc and pram reset. And if all else fails you can do a "factory reset" of BT and re-pair your BT devices.

Similar Messages

Satellite A205: Bluetooth USB dongle will no longer connect to AirCable

I plugged a generic Bluetooth USB dongle into my Satellite A205 and used it for several hours over three days to connect to an AirCable Serial Bluetooth to run my telescope controller. The generic dongle worked after downloading a Toshiba stack.
Each time I restarted the Bluetooth it incremented the COM port numbers.
My telescope controller will not recognize COMs above 20 so I deleted COMs that really were not used.
The Bluetooth USB dongle will no longer connect to the AirCable Serial Bluetooth. *It worked before and will not work today.*
I've tried three different Bluetooth USB dongles including TrendNet, AirCable and the generic.
I cannot connect to the telescope controller's AirCable Serial Bluetooth with any of the dongles.
_*Can anyone suggest a Bluetooth monitor that will work, or suggest a way to get my A205 to work with one of my Bluetooth USB dongles?*_
Don

I have Vista. I did not download SP1. It did not appear in the Update Manager. My laptop is about 3 months old so I did not want to download the 400+ MB SP1 to a fairly new version of Vista Home Premium.
Here are steps that did work for me. This process is tedious but it worked three times in a row with no failures after scores of failed connection attempts.
*_Getting Bluetooth to Work With Vista and Generic Bluetooth Dongle_*
1. Power up Bluetooth serial (AirCable).
2. Start laptop with Vista Home Premium and wait 2 minutes.
3. Plug in the generic Bluetooth dongle.
4. Click tray Bluetooth icon to show Bluetooth devices.
5. Select and remove the existing device.
6. Unplug and plug in the generic Bluetooth dongle. My Bluetooth COM Port is 6-Outgoing Serial, and 7-Incoming
7. Add a new connection for the Bluetooth serial.
8. Start; Control Panel; Device Manager
9. If COM ports with a higher number than your selected ports (mine are COM 6 and COM 7) exist, do the following:
- Right-click the port number that is the Output port (Click the Bluetooth icon in the tray to determine which COM number is output and which is input).
- Let's say for my example that Device Manager Ports shows COM 11 and COM 12, and that COM 11 is output.
- Right-click COM 11 and select Properties
- Click the Port Settings tab and the Advanced button
- Click the Com Port number dropdown list and reassign it to COM 6 (the desired Outgoing COM port).
- Click OK a couple of times.
- Now, right-click COM 12 (input), Properties, Port Settings tab, and Advanced button.
- Reassign COM 12 to COM 10 (OK...), reassign to COM 9 (OK...), reassign to COM 8 (OK...), reassign to COM 7 (OK...). (You are clearing out unused COM ports 10, 9, and 8.)
- Click OK a couple of times.
- Click the tray Bluetooth icon and remove the existing device.
- Pull the Bluetooth USB dongle out of the computer and reinsert it.
- Click the tray Bluetooth icon, search for and add your Bluetooth serial device.
At this point your remote Bluetooth device should have a good connection.
+++++++++++++
Thank you everyone for your input. It is too bad that it is so difficult to use a Bluetooth dongle with Vista but such is life.
Don

Bluetooth USB Dongle does not work

I have this generic looking USB dongle (forgot the brand) that I use with my eMachines e725 laptop. It worked fine with Linux Mint 9 KDE 64bit that I had to use for the past 1.5 years. The moment I plugged the dongle in, it was instantly detected and the bluetooth icon turned active in the system tray. However it does not work with my ArchLinux 64bit install with KDE4.6 (updated to latest packages). Due to issues with the new Kernel 2.6.39 series, I am using the LTS kernel.
lsusb:
Bus 003 Device 009: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
tail -f /var/log/messages.log
Jul 10 17:56:26 localhost kernel: [11565.480026] usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 9
Jul 10 17:56:26 localhost kernel: [11565.728190] usb 3-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
I've installed bluez and bluedevil. In KDE System Settings, when I go to the bluetooth options, it says no bluetooth adapters have been found.
Last edited by MetalheadGautham (2011-07-10 13:28:51)

Have you read the Bluetooth wiki page?
Seems to me you didn't run the relevant daemon.
Also, your thread title should include 'bluetooth' - 'USB dongle' on its own is too generic.
Last edited by tomk (2011-07-10 13:12:28)

BlueTooth USB dongle problem

Hello,
I have a problem with my BlueTooth USB dongle
OS: Win98
Drivers: latest 1.4.2.10
When I setup a connection the following error occurs:
ERROR: Unable to start the BlueTooth stack service
Can anyone tell me how to solve this problem??
Andries

No configuration or modification of system files is required. If the USB Bluetooth dongle is Mac compatible, just plug it in and open the Bluetooth system preferences pane.
Not all USB Bluetooth dongles are fully Mac compatible.

Bluetooth usb dongle support

hi i am new to forum and java
I am going to buy bluetooth usb dongle .I want to know that by having 2 dongles can I run my java socket programs to transfer data's or files between two PC's .is there anything like java supported bluetooth usb dongle is there.If anyone knows the solution please reply me as soon as possible.

Hi,
One idea, you can set up a LAN between two PC with the bluetooth dongles then easily make them communicate by sockets, or http, or ppp with java or other programming languages.
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Wireless_Programming/Bluetooth/Q_20766049.html
That's my little suggestion.

Message: To play this movie in HD, you must have a computer with a built-in display ...

I rarely use iTunes, prefer, for obvious reasons to own physical media (which is prompting this question). But I do have an iPad 4 so I have to use it.
I bought a movie on iTunes and have downloaded it to a new brand new Windows 8 laptop. I am getting a message "To play this movie in HD, you must have a computer with a built-in display or have it connected to a display that supports HDCP."
My laptop is running a display at 1366 x 768 resolution and it is hooked up to a separate monitor using the HDMI out to the DVI input. Why am I getting this message and what is the workaround? I don't think that it's right that I have to re-buy the movie in standard definition to to watch it.
Also, as I have a 16 GB iPad, I typically don't have space available to store a 4GB movie but if I download the movie to my laptop and connect my iPad to my laptop, if I free up space will I be able to watch the movie on my iPad 4?
You can probably tell I'm not a fan of iTunes. Why does Apple insist on making everything so difficult? The iPad 4 with Retnia Display is the only Apple product I own and previously I have played this movie on my iPad.

I rarely use iTunes, prefer, for obvious reasons to own physical media (which is prompting this question). But I do have an iPad 4 so I have to use it.
I bought a movie on iTunes and have downloaded it to a new brand new Windows 8 laptop. I am getting a message "To play this movie in HD, you must have a computer with a built-in display or have it connected to a display that supports HDCP."
My laptop is running a display at 1366 x 768 resolution and it is hooked up to a separate monitor using the HDMI out to the DVI input. Why am I getting this message and what is the workaround? I don't think that it's right that I have to re-buy the movie in standard definition to to watch it.
Also, as I have a 16 GB iPad, I typically don't have space available to store a 4GB movie but if I download the movie to my laptop and connect my iPad to my laptop, if I free up space will I be able to watch the movie on my iPad 4?
You can probably tell I'm not a fan of iTunes. Why does Apple insist on making everything so difficult? The iPad 4 with Retnia Display is the only Apple product I own and previously I have played this movie on my iPad.

Bluetooth USB dongle

I have a Powerbook with Bluetooth. I also have an iMac with a Bluetooth dongle plugged in the USB port. I can send files from the iMac to the Powerbook but I can't send files from the Powerbook to the iMac. I am almost sure I was able to do that before I upgraded the OS on both.

There may be a situation where the BT USB dongle does not
have the correct drivers or they didn't load if available in the
OS; or perhaps the manufacturer's web site may have them.
Or, there are no drivers required. But I think something was
missed in the update or upgrade and that item was left out.
In any event...
Good luck & happy computing!

Bluetooth USB Dongle issues

I'm using a plantronics usb bluetooth dongle and so far with no luck. I have both the dbus and bluetooth daemons running.
lsusb shows the device:
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 047f:4254 Plantronics, Inc. BUA-100 Bluetooth Adapter
but hcitool dev shows no devices. I've read the wiki but there isn't much in the way of troubleshooting.

I'm using a plantronics usb bluetooth dongle and so far with no luck. I have both the dbus and bluetooth daemons running.
lsusb shows the device:
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 047f:4254 Plantronics, Inc. BUA-100 Bluetooth Adapter
but hcitool dev shows no devices. I've read the wiki but there isn't much in the way of troubleshooting.

Bluetooth USB Dongle stops working after reboot of 10.5.3

Hi,
I have been using my Mac Pro 2.66 with a USB Bluetooth dongle "Sitecom CN-521" and Apple's wireless keyboard (white one) and Mighty Mouse wireless.
All worked very fine together.
Then suddenly after rebooting 10.5.3, bluetooth is not available.
I first thought that the dongle was dead.
To find out, I tried the dongle on a PowerMac G4 733: it worked perfectly.
Then I thought it might be a hardware problem with the Mac Pro. To be sure, I installed the Vista drivers of the USB dongle on my Mac Pro (through VMware Fusion). It was recognized by Vista. I could even use my wireless keyboard in Vista, thanks to the dongle. But on 10.5.3, bluetooth was still dead and I could not use the keyboard.
It was a strange feeling to use my wireless keyboard on my Mac Pro, only in Vista and not in Leopard!!!!
So it is not a hardware problem (either dongle or Mac Pro). It is a software problem with 10.5.3.
I tried to reboot while unplugging all usb devices and then replugging them after startup is over: no improvement.
So basically, I think of 2 options:
1. either it is a 10.5.3 software problem.
2. either a clean install on my HD could clear this problem.
Does anyone of you has the same problem?
Any solutions?
Thanks in advance.

I answered this question on my own. I was able to utilize Pacifist and reinstalling the video card drivers and display profiles. Now everything works as it should.

USB dongles no longer working with hub

Hello,
I am running Logic Pro and a couple of 3rd party plugins which require usb dongles. All of a sudden the usb dongles are no longer found when connected to my 4 port usb 2.0 hub. This was never an issue in the past. Any ideas what might have caused this to happen? thanks.

I have this problem too. Devices are mounted properly in /media, but there is no icon in nautilus/on desktop. Also there is no icon in gnome-mount applet.

Bluetooth USB dongle on Mac with built-in Bluetooth

I appreciate that my iMac G5 already has Bluetooth built in but in order to successfully drive some good BT headphones is there a way of connecting/configuring an external USB BT dongle so that the existing BT Mouse & Keyboard connections remain and I can dedicate the new BT adaptor to music?
I am aware that Apple does not approve of many USB BT dongles - for this very reason?
Kind Regards
Fat Hugh

I have an older logitech 3000 and have been able to get it to work with 3rd party software such as macam and btvpro, but can't use it for Yahoo Messenger or similar programs. It won't work with photobooth either.

Bluetooth USB Dongle works in Ubuntu but not Arch

My "Conceptronic Bluetooth 2.1 USB Nano adapter (CBT2NANO)" works in ubuntu correctly but when I try to use it in Archlinux the kernel says:
hub 6-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 1
and the logs are flooded with this message.
it think that the problem is a bluez patch not included in the arch linux repositories.
(My first Lang is Spanish, so I can be wrong in the grammar, sorry)
I hope that someone know where is the problem and help me to fix it.

there is a problem with the kernel!, Actually I am using Ubuntu 11.10 and I keep having the same issue, but when I connect my dongle in the USB 3.0 port, it works and is recognized as a Full Speed USB Device:
usb 3-3: new full speed USB device number 37 using ohci_hcd
When I use a USB extension (Cable) or connect the device in USB 2.0 Port, dmesg says:
hub 3-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 3
once, again, again, and so on.
And I think the problem is in ohci_hcd module.
If at first the dongle works in USB 2.0 Port I want it working in this Port too, couse some PC have not USB 3.0 Port, and my USB3.0 is in the back panel, so the signal is worse.
thanks for any help.
Last edited by jaao_deat (2011-12-22 11:10:37)

Bluetooth USB dongle vs internal Bluetooth

Hi,
When I bought my MP, I didn't ordered with an internal Bluetooth module. Now I need BT connectivity, but I read the module is a bit hard to install (if you do it yourself).
I just found online a D-Link USB 2 bluetooth adapter (D-Link DBT-120).
Does it work with the MacPro? What is the difference between using this adapter vs. using an internal BT module in terms of performance?
I just need it for my cell to sync.
Thank you.

The D-Link should work just fine and does also work with Apple BT updates which is a good thing. The down side to it is that it's USB which means it'll use a port and consume your USB bandwidth. However, being external, reception should be better than the internal, metal encased (the MP case), Apple BT module.
As for the installation, it's not difficult of you have decent instructions and patience. However I'd still probably take it to an Apple service centre and have them do it to ensure the correct installation and the ensured continuity of your warranty coverage.

Bluetooth USB dongle stopped working

I have an unbranded USB bluetooth dongle. I'm running osx 10.4.11 on a G4 Dual Optical.
The dongle worked fine, plug and play and I have used it to Sync my Sony Ericsson mobile using iSync.
I do not leave it plugged in as I use it on my work PC too. The dongle is operational as I have tested it on the PC.
Now whenever I try any bluetooth operation including opening my Bluetooth System Perferences the operation fails and I have to force quit System Preferences.
Any advice welcome, thanks

Thanks for this, I thought it was going to work straight off, as it got me into the preferences but it wasn't long before I was locked again. I went to Disc Utilities and repared permissions, then did the process of removing the com.apple.bluetooth.plist file again. After this all seemed to work and phone and Mac are now sucessfully synced once more.

Bluetooth USB dongle stack download for Windows 7

I have a Toshiba USB bluetooth dongle. The software will not install using Windows 7 and the dongle does not work at all on my PC. The only download I could find for the software was for Toshiba notebooks! Where can I download the software/drivers? I must say that the support for updates to Windows 7 is very poor or very well hidden. Why is the stack only free for notebook users? Must I avoid Toshiba's products in future because the support seems to be non-existent. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi
Please take a look here on this Toshiba BT portal:
http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/bluetooth/
Here you can download the newest Toshiba BT stack!
Here is also an explanation why the BT stack is valid for 30 days:
http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/FAQ81021V0000R01.htm
This message will appear ONLY if you are using non-Toshiba Bluetooth adapter.
The usage of Toshiba BT stack on all Toshiba products is NOT limited.

Good Bluetooth USB Dongle on a computer with no built in Bluetooth?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for